Located approximately fourteen miles south of Tallahassee, in Wakulla County, Wakulla Springs is a 2,860 acre preserve with a long history as a resort. The centerpiece of the park is the Wakulla Spring, a first magnitude spring which produces 183 million gallons of water a day and creates the Wakulla River. / Wakulla Springs has known visitors for centuries. Indians camped at the site from the Paleoindian period (15,000-8,000 B.C.) through the Spanish conquest (AD. 1539). During Florida's territorial era, the spring became a popular spot for picnics and parties. Though several schemes for development were proposed, the lack of capital and Wakulla's isolation prevented successful commercialization of the site until it was purchased by Florida business tycoon Edward Ball in the 1930s. Ball turned Wakulla Springs into a tourist attraction, complete with a hotel, glassbottom boats, and a swimming beach. While Ball also emphasized the preservation of wildlife, his efforts met with opposition from local environmentalists, who engaged him in a lengthy court battle over his fence on the Wakulla River. Following Ball's death, the resort was purchased by the state of Florida, and is now officially titled the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park. / This dissertation explores the history of Wakulla Springs from the Pleistocene era to the state's purchase of the park in 1986. It also examines the scientific expeditions to Wakulla Springs, Wakulla's role in literature, and the resort's development as a tourist attraction. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-11, Section: A, page: 3880. / Major Professor: William Warren Rogers. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

En nuestro país, uno de los aspectos que tiene gran importancia, tanto para los sectores académicos como para la vida cotidiana de la población, es sin duda lo referido a la cultura expresiva, entendida por algunos como folclor. La música, las danzas, los bailes, los vestidos, las artesanías, los cuentos y mitos, se reproducen a lo largo de todo el territorio nacional. Así, por ejemplo, es muy común ver representaciones de danzas y músicas de diversos tipos en fiestas patronales, espacios rituales, concursos nacionales y escolares, y hasta en eventos políticos, ya sea en un aniversario de algún distrito, provincia, región o en festividades nacionales. El folclore, en este caso referido a las danzas y músicas, se vive, se representa y se utiliza en diversas esferas sociales y políticas, y además por diversos actores, que va desde el político que las utiliza para convocar a mítines o celebrar aniversarios, por el danzante tradicional y hasta el danzante o músico profesional egresado de alguna escuela o centro de especialización. / Tesis

Thesis (M. A. (Folklore Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2012 / Refer to document

Thirty Kentucky weather beliefs--twenty of which were considered to be scientifically valid while ten were not--were annotated, documented and discussed. It was shown that the weather beliefs which had scientific explanations were usually concerned with forecasts associated with rain and that most often they were based on observable atmospheric conditions. It was further shown that those beliefs which were not considered scientifically valid usually had an element of truth but were not considered plausible for one of the following reasons. First, there was evidence that some of these weather beliefs had been garbled during the process of oral transmission. Second, some segments of these beliefs were found to be either reversed or the sequence of events had been mixed in such a way that inconsistencies resulted. Third, some of the beliefs were found to be the object of cultural transference. Thus they had been geographically displaced and were no longer applicable.

This study in folk medicine focuses on a modern magico-religious folk healer named Jack Epperson, who utilizes the principles of bioenergetics or placing hands on an ill person's body and directing healing energy into blocked channels to heal, in the context of the small Alaskan community in which he lives and practices. The thesis is divided into seven chapters preceded by an introduction and followed by a conclusion. To fit Jack Epperson into the full spectrum of folk medicine, it is necessary to comprehend fully the two categories of folk medicine: herbal or natural medicine, and magico-religious healing or shamanism. The first chapter defines these categories, places Epperson within the realm of magico-religious healing, and describes the community in which he lives. In the second chapter, a thorough description of Epperson's emergence as a healer and subsequent training with his mentor, a woman named Patricia Sun, is given. This chapter also contains extensive biographical information which relates his life experiences to his decision to become a healer. As Epperson continued on his path into magico-religious healing, he took many physical and spiritual journeys venturing into the occult. Chapter Three describes these journeys and provides case studies on healing situations. Chapter Four continues with case studies in curing but limits these memorates to Epperson's experiences in Homer with his patients. Chapter Five establishes Epperson as a modern shaman within the traditional background of shamanism in other cultures. The next two chapters describe the role of the patient in folk medicine providing interviews with two of Epperson's patients as well as the researcher as patient. Motives for enlisting the aid of a magico-religious healer are examined in these two chapters as well. The concluding chapter focuses on the importance of Jack Epperson and modern folk healers like him in our society. The prevailing question throughout the research and writing concerned the reason why such healers are reemerging in an increasingly technologically advanced society. With the strides the conventional medical establishment have made, it is important to understand why people are returning in increasing numbers to magico-religious healers. Healing is a profoundly cultural activity and research into folk healers provides information about human behavior and thought processes that occur when faced with traumatic illness or injury.

The first and last three months of Allan M. Trout's newspaper column "Greetings" were analyzed to show Trout's use of traditional material in that feature. An overview of previous scholarship concerning folklore in literature revealed a lack of study of the modern newspaper as a transmitter of folk items. The type of feature which Trout wrote was shown to have developed from pre-Civil War journalism. Trout's conception of folklore as a rural, kinetic process was presented through quotations from his books and columns, and "Greetings" was defined as a part of that process rather than as a static literary work. The traditional material in the selected columns was identified and classified under the genres of folk speech, belief and custom, legends and anecdotes, author-title jokes, riddles, song lyrics and poetry, and games. The shortcomings of "Greetings" as a folklore collection were identified. Allan Trout was defined as a nonacademic, passive collector of traditional items who worked through a popular medium. Speculation was made as to Trout's roles as a transmitter and a popularizer of folklore. The value of the bound "Greetings" volumes was shown to be hindered by the lack of an index for the column.

Thesis (M.A.(Folktales studies)) --University of Limpopo, S.A , 2011 / Refer to document

The dissertation defines Aksenov's style as intertextual. Aksenov's folklorism is identified in (1) the portrayal of characters as incongruous assemblages of emblems with archaic symbolism; (2) in the manner of bricolage work elicited in the structuring of folkloric figures; and (3) the intertextuality through which Aksenov fills his archaic images with modern content. A spontaneous religiosity of Aksenov's characters is apparent in the numinous feelings awakened by the quotidian presentiment of the sacred, the sign of a higher unnameable moral authority which gradually is elicited as an omen from God. Aksenov's novels from his second and third periods incorporate an iconology of totalitarian evil figures that function autotextually. The political and social evil is endowed with demonic features with a traditional symbolism embedded in Christian popular cultures. Their implicit hierarchy mimics the Soviet political structure. Aksenov's personification of the Soviet regime is an old Russian literary archetype designating the Russian homeland in the guise of an evil ogress, a double-mother that seduces and destroys its intellectual protegees. She is constructed as an intertext of folk tales, Soviet propaganda, Stalinist paraphernalia, and intellectual literary cliches. Aksenov's intellectual heroes yield to the temptation of the regime, a process described in clues that point to their gradual demonization and spiritual destruction. Others become or feel like traitors, with the folkloristic image of the Judas functioning as a double of Aksenov's heroes. Christ-like characters are collated as alternatives to the archaic brutality of the state and display numinous features as God's instruments of an impending moral miracle. Forgiveness as the central value does not preclude Aksenov's innocent macho heroes from practicing self-defense and manly valor. Their / personal God is non-violent and non-punishing. As the sacred is available in everyday life, man can experience at any moment the opening of his latent religiosity--a non-denominational capacity for goodness. The theophany in Aksenov is under the influence of Berdiaev. The hero's resurrection, alluded to through ascension and flight motifs, replaces the paschal mystery which is viewed in the Russina literary tradition as a general renewal of men's humanity and of the community bonds. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-08, Section: A, page: 2946. / Major Professor: Richard L. Chapple. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Folklore serves a fundamental societal function spreading accepted culture from generation to generation. The role of folklore is paramount in social networking and the scope of folklore will be investigated using specific myths from the Great Basin region. The Si-teh-cah as the Paiute referred to them was a mysterious group of purported cannibalistic giants. / The study of this myth helps aid the understanding of the archetypical motifs and their roles in society. The underpinning of this research is to understand the cultural perceptions and perspectives that go into their folklore. From this understanding folklore has applicable functions in its role affecting the understanding of migration trends, societal framework, behavioral functions and the purpose of identity as well as the esoteric and exoteric dynamic of each group with the "Other." The typical "Other" goes through transmutation based on the society discussing the "Other." / This research explores the behavioral patterning of perspective and perception that has developed and shows how this cultural framework alters aspects of myth to put each culture's signature traits into the narrative. From this understanding it also becomes apparent that through folklore we can see elements of how place affects the culture along with how all these aspects are entangled and play roles in migrational trends, social order, identity and aspects of perseverance and warfare. Folklore serves a function of cultural relativism and the dynamic art form of perception and perspective on history. / Folklore can be advantageous in multiple disciplines and shows that even what we purport as factual history in contemporary times is folkloric in the respect that it is history from specific perspectives. This Great Basin research is a dynamic way to understand the universality and the cause of universality while sorting the factual information from the absurdities.

This essay is intended to illustrate the norms and values which can be deduced from the notifier Catarina Andersdotter and recorded by Gunnar-Olof Hyltén-Cavallius. Reflects the legends of the peasant culture and life during the later part of 1700´s and early 1800´s.                       In the background material, I have assumed the following conditions of life; faith, love, work and children. Since Hyltén-Cavallius is our filter between us and the notifier, I have examined his life and incorporated events that may be of interest of the essay. Catarina Andersdotter´s life is described in the essay to show the factors and living conditions in her life that influenced her choice of stories.                       The environment of the commons over time period is described for the purpose of the variables of the legends. Legends have been qualitatively and quantitatively investigated.                       The essay shows that most of the legends deal with mytical world and its creatures as well as the interaction with humans. People are described mainly in situation dealing with everyday task of the country. The essay shows the connection between folklore and Christian world view.                       To obtain deeper and more adequate pictures of the values and norms among the commons during the time period a wide range of sources need to be used.